Online Marketing Blog

Myth And Hype: Affiliate Payload and Real Results

September 28th, 2008 at 06:37pm Under Marketing

An evaluation of the myth and hype surrounding Affiliate Payload by a real user who tested the advocated traffic strategies over a period (a note of caution is also sounded on the product).

Affiliate Payload is a Traffic Buying information package written and released by Saj P and Alex Goad. Whether Alex Goad compiled and presented the information in the package is unclear and Myth Buster suspects that Saj P did the ground work.

The package consists of videos and a pdf document. The text is well researched and written, flows logically and contains more than ample references. The videos contain some additional examples and additional information, but ramble somewhat and seem to be added as filler information, possibly as an afterthought.

A VIP one time up sell offer is made during the sales funnel process. The VIP information consists of additional downloadable videos that add an extra twist to each of the advocated traffic generation options.

The Product advocates generating traffic through various traffic broking and posting options with in depth discussions of Pay per Click, Pay per View, Cost per Action (including Cost per Lead, Cost per Impression and Cost per Sale), Incentivized Traffic Options, Co-Registration, Targeted Traffic Pools, Article / Blog / Forum Marketing and general Advertising.

Myth Buster launched a total of 5 highly niche targeted Media Buying campaigns (utilizing 4 of the advocated options) using the methodology outlined in Affiliate Payload. The campaigns consisted of PPC; PPV and TTP traffic options and included Incentive, Advertising, Reverse Demographics, Blog, Forum and Article combinations.

To ensure decent results I tested for 5 days. Results were constantly monitored and adjustments were continuously made to improve the Click Through and Conversion Rates. A total of US $900 was spent on Media Buying with 12 hours of preparation and keyword research in 4 niche markets. Monitoring and adjustments took 2 hours per day over the 5 day period.

The Click through Rate was high for all Media Buying campaigns due to highly researched phrases and targeted keyword groups used. The targeted PPC and TTP campaigns returned a much higher conversion rate compared to the pure and combination PPV campaigns. Further research is being initiated on the Incentive and Demographics campaigns as they performed above expectation.

Myth Buster feels that Affiliate Payload does not completely consist of hype, and does deliver on the promised outcome. It is not a package for new marketers or persons inexperienced in Traffic Generation techniques. A cautionary note must be sounded here that the traffic generation methods advocated by Affiliate Payload can lead to above average loss of money if they are not properly managed / controlled and constantly adjusted.

None of the individual Traffic Buying strategies are new. The Business Edge is found in the unique application and implementation of these strategies. If these are implemented in a creative manner any person doing business via e-promotion will secure more than sufficient traffic at a very reasonable cost with the prospect of making money.

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Web PPC Plan

September 25th, 2008 at 08:48pm Under General

Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising is becoming an essential marketing tool for any business that uses the Internet to drive sales. With PPC, the traffic that you receive can be extremely targeted depending on your choice of keywords. The major PPC platforms that you should familiarize yourself with are Google AdWords, Yahoo Search Marketing and MSN AdCenter. There is a learning curve associated with each one but if you master them all, it can be financially rewarding.

As with any business decision, once you decide to utilize PPC you should have a solid strategy in place. Before you start spending a single advertising dollar, you should set up metrics to gauge the success of your advertising campaign. Do your homework and find out what your break even point should be. Knowing this number will help you determine what will be an acceptable cost per conversion or cost per click.

Suppose for a moment that you make $50 per sale. You have to first assume what your conversion rate is to find out what the cost per conversion will be. Suppose that your traffic converts at 2%, so every 100 visitors will result in 2 sales. That means that you can afford to pay up to $100 or $1 per click for 100 clicks to reach your break even point. Estimating the conversion rate will help you decide how much you can afford to bid per click.

The better you know your target demographic, the more you will save on PPC advertising costs. Therefore, it is imperative for you to do your market research. If you know that your customers are mostly from the United States and they are shopping online during certain hours of the day, targeting the right countries and turning off your campaigns during certain times of the day may save you a lot of money.

Be sure to test and track to see how your ads are performing. Always split test your ads. Keep the better performing ad and write a new ad to try to beat that one. Incremental improvements in the click-through ratio (CTR) can help you improve your ad position while preserving your cost per click. In the long run, continual improvements in your ads can help you beat your competition. You should also invest time into researching keywords related to your market and keeping up with the trends associated with your product.

In order to manage your traffic campaigns more efficiently, you have to plan well and set up your ad groups properly. When you are doing your keyword research, try to group related keywords into separate ad groups. Then write different ads for each group. The more targeted your ads are, the better their quality score. A high quality score will help you lower your bids.

These are just a few suggestions to get you started. There are plenty of resources out there to help you learn PPC. Be sure to set aside a budget for educating yourself. There is a steep learning curve for PPC and you have to be prepared to lose some money in the beginning. However, once you master the techniques, you can drive targeted traffic to any website on demand.

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